NEW YORK — “Little, better, yellow, different.” It was a famous advertising slogan for Nuprin, but it also could describe a line of whimsical, semicustomizable bags created by eight artists and architects for Yoox, the Italian e-tailer.
Available online starting today, Strambo consists of eight bags whose parts can be mixed and matched to suit the wearer, for a total of more than 40 looks. “Strambo” means “unique in an unusual way” in Italian.
“The brief was to design something that could be built out of interchangeable parts,” said Yoox co-founder and spokeswoman Hilary Bowers. “[We’re] trying to mix art and design with fashion, so fashion isn’t just about the biggest designer out there trying to make something. It’s going back to creativity and what fashion originally was, which was an art form.”
Parts snap, zip or Velcro together. Some bags come with removable charms or straps. The Select bag by Alessandro Guerriero, a well-known Italian designer of objects, buildings and cities, can shrink or grow like a train by zipping together multiples of the basic bag shape, which resembles a coffee cup. Its three handles can be worn simultaneously, in pairs, or alone.
Yoox stocks more than 70 parts for all eight bags (including different colors of the same bag) and assembles each bag as the customer requests in its warehouse before shipping. Prices for the bags range from $100 to $300. Materials include leather, rigid plastic, fake fur, nylon and metal.
The Yoox offering is part of a growing trend called mass customization, which makes unique items available at accessible prices. Strambo, which will be on sale at least through spring 2006, is part of Yoox’s ongoing efforts to commission exclusive designs from small designers and artists. Most recently, Paris-based fashion designer Bernhard Willhelm created a collection of men’s and women’s clothing called Ghost for the retailer.
Yoox refers to itself as an online “concept” store, similar to Paris’ Colette or Tokyo’s A Bathing Ape. The unifying theme at Yoox is to sell anything not available in a regular store. Yoox features out-of-season designer merchandise at a discount, exclusive special collections, vintage clothing, books and music. It partnered with Colette to sell Willhelm’s Ghost collection.